For the first time in a 20 year long career, I felt deflated, depressed and let down: Mithali Raj

Mithali Raj’s exit from the Indian T20I team is stirring out more controversy as days pass by. The senior cricketer along with captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Ramesh Powar were summoned by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The Indian team lost the semi-final of Women’s World T20 2018 to England and most people were surprised with Mithali’s absence from the playing XI.

Skipper Harmanpreet after the game had said that it was a collective team decision and it was taken in the interest of the team. It was more about maintaining the winning combination that they fielded against Australia. They had played the previous game against the Aussies without Mithali and managed to win it quite comfortably.

Earlier the team hadn’t used her services in the match against New Zealand and won that game as well. Since then it was reported that the team hadn’t treated Mithali well and in fact, her manager had lashed out at Harmanpreet calling her all sorts of names.

However, now there are some more details from the letter Mithali wrote to the BCCI CEO Rahul Johri and GM Cricket Operations Saba Karim. She has not just targeted the team coach Powar but also pointed out how CoA member Diana Edulji has discriminated and used the position against her.

I felt deflated, depressed and let down

“For the first time in a 20 year long career, I felt deflated, depressed and let down. I am forced to think if my services to my country are of any value to a few people in power who are out to destroy me and break my confidence,” she wrote in the letter.

“I would also like to point out that I have nothing against the T20 captain Harmanpreet Kaur except for the fact that her call to support the decision of the coach to leave me out of the eleven was baffling and hurtful. I wanted to win the world cup for my country and it hurts me because we lost a golden opportunity.”

Talking about Edulji she said: “To put things in perspective, I have always reposed faith in Diana Edulji and have always respected her and her position as a member of the COA, Never did I think she will use her position against me, more after hearing what all I had to go through in the Caribbean as I had spoken to her about it.

“Her brazen support in the press with regard to the decision of my benching in the semifinal of the T20 World Cup has left me deeply distressed, more because she knows the real facts having spoken to me.”

Allegations against Powar

She has also described instances when Powar was disrespectful and clearly ignored her. “For instance, walking off if I am sitting anywhere around, watching in the nets when others bat but choosing to walk away when I am batting in nets, if I try to go up to him to talk to start looking into his phone and keep walking. It was embarrassing and very evident to everyone that I was being humiliated. Yet I never lost my cool,” she said.

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